HISTORY
Living Room Ministries International (LRMI), founded in 2009, is registered as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Kenya and a 501(c)3 in the United States. It was birthed from the work of Tumaini na Afya (Kiswahili for “Hope and Health”), a community-based HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment program that was created in 2004 in Western Kenya, previously under Empowering Lives International (ELI), a related NGO operating in the same area. Initially, Tumaini na Afya focused its efforts on mobilizing people in rural villages for HIV testing and treatment, trainings on HIV prevention, and home-based care for people living with HIV/AIDS as well as orphans.
In 2008, we engaged in a battle we did not initially set out to fight. What started as an isolated situation of creating a treatment center, a home of sorts, for two HIV+ orphans gave birth to the dream of Living Room Ministries International and specifically, Kimbilio (Kiswahili for refuge) Hospice. These children’s emaciated bodies and desperate cries stirred our team with a compassion that would not be satisfied until it was put into action. Flovia and Felix were both started on a special formula and fed every two hours, day and night. Within days, they began to grow. At 2 ½ years old, Flovia learned to walk and to speak in two languages. With her playful and determined spirit, she captured hearts. Felix was a one year old who weighed a mere nine pounds. What a beautiful sound it was when he first laughed. To our great loss, after six weeks of treatment, Felix went into respiratory failure and passed away. His death left a void within all who had the privilege of caring for him. While we grieved Felix’s death, we celebrated Flovia’s life. After encountering countless others like Flovia and Felix, who were in desperate need of palliative care, Living Room Ministries International was registered and Kimbilio Hospice was created to be a home with the aim of offering palliative care services to the community. Since its inception, LRMI has reached out to many among our community who are not only faced with life-threatening illnesses, but who also lack the love and care that signify human dignity.
Flovia at 2 1/2 years old
GOALS
The activities of Living Room Ministries International are guided by the following five goals:
- Kimbilio – To establish an inpatient Palliative Care Center to accommodate 24 individuals affected by life-threatening illnesses.
- Tumaini na Afya – To provide Home Based Palliative Care services to patients affected with life-threatening illnesses within the surrounding community.
- Educational – To establish a premier educational center to develop and enable families and health care professionals to provide quality palliative care services.
- Partners – To involve partners, both locally and internationally, in the mission of Living Room Ministries International.
- Income Generating – To generate 25% of Kenya’s operational budget through profitable enterprises within Kenya.
OBJECTIVES
- To provide relief from pain and other distressing symptoms.
- To affirm life.
- To provide holistic care by integrating the psychological, social, and spiritual aspects of our patients.
- To offer a support system to help our patients live as actively as possible until death.
- To offer a support system to help families cope during their loved one’s illness and in their own time of bereavement.
- To use a broad multidisciplinary and team approach to address the needs of our patients and their families.
- To enhance the quality of life of our patients, and where possible, positively influence the course of illness.
- To educate and sensitize the wider community about palliative care, so that individuals with life-threatening illnesses can be identified earlier, assessed properly, and benefit from palliative care services.
